Furniture rental platform Furlenco raises $1.2 mn from actor Aamir Khan and others

The funding round was led by Vamsi Krishna Bandi, director at Hyderabad-based pharma-company Hetero Drugs who invested Rs 5 crore.
Furniture rental platform Furlenco raises $1.2 mn from actor Aamir Khan and others
Furniture rental platform Furlenco raises $1.2 mn from actor Aamir Khan and others
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Furniture renting startup firms are suddenly hogging the headlines since the industry appears to have come of age in the Indian context and the venture capitalists see their potential. At least that can be said about Bangalore headquartered Furlenco, which has raised Rs 2 crore (around $300,000) in a fresh fund-raising effort and this time the high-profile investor is none other than the Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.

The funding round was led by Vamsi Krishna Bandi, director at Hyderabad-based pharma-company Hetero Drugs who invested Rs 5 crore (around $775,000).

The funds have been invested in the form of debt but there is no proposal to also rope in Aamir Khan as Furlenco’s brand ambassador.

Furlenco is owned by Kieraya Furnishing Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and its promoter Ajith Mohan Karimpana, is a former VP at Goldman Sachs. There has been a change in the nomenclature of the venture. It used to be run as Rent Ur Duniya earlier before being re-christened Furlenco. The furniture being rented out by this start up are designed in-house and then the manufacturing is outsourced.

If you were wondering why this round of funding saw such a small amount being raised by the company, Furlenco has actually been raising funds regularly through the last one year through both the equity and the debt routes.

Furlenco last raised $15 million (Rs 100 crores) in October last year from Lightbox Ventures and Axis Capital Partners of Hong Kong also participated in this round which was Furlenco’s series B funding.

In total, the online furniture rental platform has raised $30 million in equity and debt so far.

With the online furniture renting space gaining heat the sector may witness some more activity in the coming months.

 This is not the first time a Bollywood actor has invested in a startup. Most recently, Alia Bhatt invested in fashion portal Stylecracker. Karishma Kapoor has in the past invested in Babyoye, a kids clothing portal. Hrithik Roshan invested in fitness startup.

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